


Thanks For Walking Me Home: The SasuSaku Drabbles

by peterpandesal



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: F/M, Gen, Sarada - Freeform, SasuSaku - Freeform, started from twitter now were here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25669438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peterpandesal/pseuds/peterpandesal
Summary: the ss community has a collection of #sssnippetsaday. i still feel guilty for breaking the rules; as instead of snippets, mine qualify as drabbles.so here, i'm just going to compile them. these drabbles are mostly headcanons on ss dynamics, married ss dynamics, and their relationship with their daughter, also while interacting with the other characters. some may include AUs without prior notice. will update as i go.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sarada, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura & Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Sai/Yamanaka Ino, Uchiha Sarada & Uchiha Sasuke
Comments: 6
Kudos: 51





	1. Entry 1: The One With the Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> pretty bold of me to post this when i haven't finished the other ss shortfic yet. lol

* * *

"So when is the wedding?" Ino asks, looking wise about nothing.

She chokes on her piece of katsudon, sputters. "W- _What?! What_ wedding?"

"Well, Sasuke's home now, right? Isn't that what the whole 'waiting' was for? So you two finally end up together?"

Sakura drinks her juice, trying to regain her composure. Sasuke isn't even here, but the mere mention of his name is enough to make her heart race. Now here's Ino, suggesting that they get married? Holy crap.

Sasuke's been home for two weeks now. She was the first one he said hi to right after Kakashi, the Hokage himself. She was the first one to know he had come back to Konoha even before Naruto.

She's beyond happy that he's finally home, although she knows it's not for good. He has to leave again soon, but she's made it clear to him she's coming with him this time. _If you like_ , was all Sasuke said, and, knowing him, that was all the permission she needed.

"There's no _wedding,_ " she says to Ino presently, surprised at the dismay in her own voice. _I'm home, Sakura._ That was enough for her. To spend time with him now that he's home, to have him back—to just have _Sasuke_ again. Simply see him safe and well. That's enough for her. 

"But I thought you two are…" Ino makes a hand gesture that makes Sakura's ears heat up. "Together? Everyone in the gang knows it. Even Hinata is excited for you." 

Sakura shakes her head, taking the idea as somewhat ridiculous. Sure, they've spent almost every day together since he came home. Sasuke even waited for her after work, to Lady Tsunade's curious raise of the brows. Sasuke's not chatty, but they've been taking a lot of walks around Konoha, and Sasuke would respond well to her tour around the village. How it's been. What has changed since he left. 

But to look at the bigger picture...What _are_ they, anyway? Well, _that_ forehead poke _was_ something years ago, and she felt like their feelings finally connected, but she can't help but think maybe it's all just in her head. It's _Sasuke_ . He's never explicitly said _anything_ (not that she'd ask that of him; she knows him too well). And on top of that, he's all over the world, and she...well, her life is here in Konoha, serving the people. Could there be a middle ground for them if they ever got married? 

"It's enough for me that he's home," she says, swallowing the painful lump in her throat. Ino doesn't miss the sudden mistyness in her best friend's eyes. 

—

A few days later, she's surprised when Sasuke takes her to a place she's never really been at before.

They're standing at the gate, looking at the Uchiha crest of their clan. The Uchiha clan's compound. Or what remains of it, anyway. Knowing what this place must mean to him, she peers at him cautiously, but his face is neutral, as always. "Do you need to pick up something here... Sasuke-kun?" she asks with an almost mousy smallness in her voice, eager to fill the silence.

But he answers her question with another question. "Will this be okay for you?"

"Okay for what?"

"My old apartment is too small. Good for only one person."

"Um..."

"Maybe just a new place..." he trails off, lost in thought.

Suddenly, she notices the slightest change in his face. Is he…avoiding her eyes? "I don't think I understand, Sasuke-kun."

Finally, he looks at her, and she sees an expression she's only seen in the mirror, whenever she thinks of him. As if the tables suddenly turned. 

"What do you want?" he clears his throat, realizing the sudden asperity in his voice. "Is this...good for you? Or you'd like a new place?" before she can reply, he adds, "I want you to be comfortable."

"Sasuke-kun, you're confusing me. Why did you bring me here? You're asking me to get a place with you? Wha—we haven't even talked about what we are yet—" she starts, anger suddenly building up in her gut. All the waiting, all the questions in her head about what they are, what Ino said—

"Sakura." he says, in that tone only he could muster. To her greatest surprise, he holds her hand. "Do you trust me?"

Her anger melts away as quickly as it rose. "Of course." She notices his cheeks coloring.

Silence. A wind breezes past. They look at each other, a silent agreement passing between them. She knows her answer. From a mere childhood crush to a love so painful she broke her own heart. Now there's warmth and contentment. Seeing him safe and well. No longer in the darkness.

Even _she_ couldn't stop him from descending into that darkness before. But he knew that, once he awoke from that long, bad dream, warm arms, cherry pink hair, and a comforting friend—even more than that—waited for him. A person. A _home._

But they're here now, after the long and winding road. 

So he poses it not as a question, but as another way to say that he wants to have a life with her.

"Marry me, Sakura."

  
  
  



	2. Entry 2: The One with the Wedding Reception

* * *

He looks at her from across the room. Round the table she laughs with them—Ino, Sai, Naruto, Lee, all the others. The same people they competed with when they were just kids. Competitors that eventually became comrades. The comrades he once declared war on.

It's noisy here at Choji's wedding reception, but her laugh is kind of hard to miss. It sounds like an assembled melody. It floats above all the others. 

He gets a sinking, lonely feeling in his stomach. That sensation. Just a faint wisp of the old one, but there nonetheless: the sensation he would get back then, when he'd remember the village he left, the teacher and friends he abandoned. That gut feeling he got even when he was with Karin, Juugo, and Suigetsu. In quieter moments, he had tried to define it. The feeling of being displaced. Out of orbit. Off-axis. _I shouldn't be here_.

_Unbelongingness._

He purses his lips. Maybe it's time for him to leave. 

Then, just as soon as he's made the decision to depart, she catches his eyes, and a smile— _that_ smile—spreads across her face. He expects her to wave him over, but instead she traverses the distance between them, smoothly maneuvering across the crowd, the pleats of her maroon dress fluttering in her wake. He blinks when he finds her now standing before him, wonderfully close. Something in his chest misses a beat, but he doesn't mind.

And, as if having read his mind, she looks at him with that softness in her green eyes, tugging on his loose sleeve and whispers, "It's okay, Sasuke-kun." She pulls him toward the group, looking at him with a tilt of the head, and the sensation is replaced by another. A warm feeling that washes over him. 

"So what are we talking about?" Sakura asks as soon as they reach the table.

"Twelve-Drinks Lee," Tenten says, giggles in between syllables. "We haven't unlocked him yet."

"How far did we get before?" Naruto asks.

"Only eleven!" 

"What happened?" Sasuke whispers to Sakura.

Her eyes are merry and content, glad that he's joining the conversation. "Lee swore he could do a Wind Release jutsu."

"So did he ever…?"

"Not at all! He passed out before he could even form a seal," Ino interjects, and he realizes he must have said it louder than he intended. 

Collective laughter erupts around the table at the memory. Sasuke even cracks a smile. He finds his gut feeling lighter now.

She hands him a glass, giving him that look that nonverbally transmits all is well. 

_It's okay, Sasuke-kun._

Then and there, he knows. He's where he belongs, where he needs to be, where he should be. With his comrades. In his village.

Beside her.


	3. Entry 3: The One with Kakashi's Handbook

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i like to think this is how ssk began the habit of saying "my wife". kkkkk

* * *

It wasn’t like Naruto and Hinata’s, where everyone in the village knew and celebrated. The princess of the Hyuga clan and the war hero, the host of the Nine-Tails and who turned out to be the Fourth Hokage’s son, coming together in matrimony. Now,  _ that _ was one for the books.

No; theirs was different. Quiet, intimate, with only very few people attending. Only very few that only Naruto and Ino were present, serving as their witnesses.

“Did you somehow have that under there, this entire time?” Sai blinked, after Ino tossed her husband her flak jacket and clasped her hands to form a seal, and as the smoke from her jutsu cleared, she rushed to her best friend with a hug, now wearing a purple dress, exclaiming, “I wouldn’t miss this for the world!”

Despite all their banter and spats, Sakura wouldn’t have anyone else to witness for her. Naruto was for Sasuke, of course. “Thank you,” she replied, appreciating her friend rushing to her civil wedding just fresh from a mission. 

Sai nodded with a wave of the hand. “I wish you well, Sakura-san. Oh and, I’ll be waiting for you downstairs, beautiful.”

“Yes, dear.” Ino blushed just before turning to the bride and saying, “Your entire life has led to this moment.”

Sakura chuckled. It was the most serious she’d seen Ino, and that was a lot. “Well, not really...I’m about to become the Director of the Konoha Hospital—”

Ino rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. Ready?”

Sakura nodded, finding her heart suddenly pulsating a little too fast and loud in her chest.

“Oh, hang on,” Ino ushered her inside, but not before tucking a  _ kanzashi _ —the bridal flower—behind her left ear. “Perfect. Now let’s get you married.”

As the doors of the Hokage’s office creaked, there was the boy—now a man—they once quarrelled over, waiting. 

“For a second there, I thought you got cold feet and ran off, Sakura-chan,” Naruto grinned, appreciating his teammate’s white kimono, oblivious to how tense the groom looked. Ino gave the blond a sharp look, which effectively shut him up.

“Places, everyone,” the Hokage was the minister (it was apparently part of his capacity). Sakura took her place before Sasuke, who was looking regal in his black  _ montsuki _ . 

“Hi,” she said shyly, peering up at him, something she was barely able to do even on their wedding day because  _ my god  _ did  _ he  _ look handsome. And there was something on his face: something everyone else ever rarely saw, but to her was a commonplace, albeit welcome, expression: a smile. A soft “Hey” came from him.

“We’re gathered here today to celebrate the love and union of Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke,” Kakashi said mechanically, reading from what seemed to be a booklet, then sighed. Everyone looked at him. He set the booklet aside, and clasped his fists, looking at the bride and groom. “Done with that. You two—”

Sakura and Sasuke exhaled in relief.

“Are two of the three most stubborn people I know, the other one being in this same room,” said the Sixth Hokage. Behind Sasuke, Naruto gave Ino dead eyes and a smug peace sign. “Now here we are, after everything. From darkness to light, pain to joy, and, how to put this delicately—from mutual attempted murder—”

Both bowed, chuckling. It was always going to be a painful part in their shared history, but where a wound once festered was a scar now.

“—and remorse to forgiveness.” Kakashi looked from one face to another. A moment of silence, a slight knot of tension in the air. “The wrong is past. Let it rest where it lies.”

The knot unraveled. Sakura didn’t miss the look of sadness passing over her groom’s eyes. 

“Please hold hands. Now, Sasuke, repeat after me—”

“Let me,” Sasuke interjected. 

“ _ This is more intense than my wedding, _ ” Naruto whispered to Ino, and the other rebuked him with a  _ shh! _

“Sakura,” the groom began, and Sakura found it quite amusing that he was suddenly very conscious of himself. “You know I’m not very good with words.” 

She bit her lips to keep a laugh from erupting. She gave him an encouraging nod.  _ It’s okay, Sasuke-kun. _

“You were always there for me. From when we were kids, when I was cursed, to even when I...went away. You waited. Wished for nothing but my good.” He gave her hands a squeeze. “One day during my travels, I thought of Konoha, and in that moment your face came to mind. That was when I decided it was time to come back. Come home.” Tears had started to form in his bride’s eyes. He took a deep breath, still kind of conscious but earnest, “My home is where you are.”

A stunned silence.  _ Sasuke could be eloquent? _ Kakashi was the first one to snap out of it, to not ruin the moment. The very pregnant pause was his cue. “Uchiha Sasuke, you this woman marry and take as your partner. Before these witnesses you swear, in health and sickness, in danger and peace, to respect and love her, console and help her, swearing fidelity until death. Do you vow?”

“I vow.” 

Kakashi nodded. Just in time, Sakura said, “Lord Sixth, may I?”

“Yes.”

“Sasuke-kun,” she looked at him, and never before has she been more beautiful in his eyes. “I know you well, so I will say just a few things. Before I make my vow...I accept that the safety of the shinobi world is your duty, and its well-being my priority. We have our lots cast for us. But I’m here before you today, this new life before me. This new life with you,” she inhaled a sharp breath. “And I am not afraid. Wherever you are, wherever you will be, always know that I’m here for you.”

Sasuke, not breaking the handhold, took her hands along with his to her face, to wipe the tear that had rolled down her cheek.

“Haruno Sakura,” began the minister once more, “You this man marry and take him as your partner. Before these witnesses you swear, in health and sickness, in danger and peace, to respect and love him, console and help him, swearing fidelity until death. Do you vow?”

She let out an exhale of laughter, in an effort to extinguish the sob that wanted to escape her. “I vow.”

At her last two words Sasuke’s Sharingan activated. Only Sakura noticed.

“By the power vested in me by the Fire Daimyo and...this handbook...of the Hokage, I now declare you husband and wife...and your request for honeymoon vacation approved.”

Ino and Naruto applauded, with the latter cheering, “Sasuke’s speech! My teammates intermarrying! What a day!”

They were still holding hands. They held each other’s gaze, knowing what was coming next. 

Then they realized their former sensei was watching.

“Go ahead,” said Kakashi, his arms folded, raising one hand in dismissal. “I’m not even here.”

Sakura knew that public (or even with just a few people around) displays of affection made him uneasy, so she thought to maybe pass it off for later, when they were alone. She lifted their entwined hands to his right eye, about to point out that his Sharingan was on, when, to her immense surprise, her now-husband drew his face close, and she felt the warmth of his lips on hers.

She went deaf. There were only two people in the world now. The next thing she knew, Sasuke-kun was looking at her with a soft smile, his face only a breath away. “‘My wife’,” he whispered. “It sounds good.”


	4. Entry 4: The One Where They Have a Salad

* * *

He’s been agitated for weeks now.

“What’s wrong?” she asks everyday, even though she knows the answer.  _ We’re being followed _ , he’d say.  _ I can sense chakra that isn’t ours. _ The paranoia has started to show in the dark shades under her husband’s eyes. She’s asked what kind of chakra it is, and why she can’t sense it. Every time he tries to give an answer, all that comes out of his mouth is,  _ I can’t explain it. It’s somewhat familiar yet...not at all. _

Both of them have agreed to take a break in their travels and stop at one of Orochimaru’s hideouts. Even Sakura herself isn’t feeling well; perhaps also being affected by the stress of being followed. She feels sick, agitated as well.

“Dear, please rest,” she finally begs him one day, a little before sunrise, three mountains from the nearest hideout. Sasuke begins to protest, but she kisses his forehead, reminding him that he’s not alone anymore in watching out. “Please, Sasuke-kun. For me.”

Not long after, he’s snoozing peacefully, his head on her lap. She enjoys the view. He looks beautiful, with the raven-black strands of hair over his eyes, an arm on his forehead, the rising and falling of his chest—

The world suddenly starts spinning, as if the planet had been turned askew in its own axis. She scrambles out of her position, unceremoniously waking Sasuke up, and he’s alert in an instant. “Sakura, what’s wrong?” he demands as she runs to the nearest bush, and vomits. She’s had vertigo before, but not this bad.

“Sakura,” Sasuke says, his hand caressing her back as she heaves her guts out. Finally, the feeling subsides. She straightens her pose, wiping her mouth with the back of her gloved hand. “Ugh, I’m so sorry; I don’t know what that was. It was probably the f—Sasuke-kun?” she stares at his stunned face. She’s seen him surprised before, but not like this. He looks utterly  _ astounded _ .

“Sasuke-kun?” she asks again. He’s not talking. “Sasuke-kun, you’re scaring me.” It’s not  _ her _ he’s looking at, but something below her face. She looks down at her belly.

She does a certain mental math.

_ Oh. _

Sasuke kneels before her, and in all the years she’s known him, she sees tears forming in his eyes. He puts his forehead and one shaking hand on her belly, and with a relieved, enraptured sigh, “So it was you all this time, huh.”

She hunches over, embracing his head, also crying now.  _ The chakra that was somewhat familiar, yet not at all.  _ “Sasuke-kun…”

Obscured from her view, Sasuke sniffs. "Thank you, Sakura."

She can't believe it. After all these years, she's giving Sasuke what was stolen from him.

A family. 


	5. Entry 5: The One With Sasuke's Premonition

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think the day i'll close this collection is the day i tire of sasusaku (which is never). these are mostly writing exercises tbh

“Kakashi-sensei, requesting to leave Naruto behind!” Sakura says, syllables drawled in a half-hearted complaint. Up ahead, their sensei just sighs.

“Sakura-chan, I was just kidding!” whined Naruto. They’ve been razzing each other since they took off from the gates of the village that he’s lost track of what exactly they’re talking about. Them bantering during missions is so commonplace that it doesn’t even bother him anymore.

As usual, he’s quiet, blocking out as white noise the bickering of his teammates—one of them an idiot and the other being Sakura. Kakashi-sensei is walking at the front, the two in the middle, and him last, ready as rearguard. He doesn’t sense any danger in the vicinity, so he looks ahead, and finds himself looking at Sakura.

Now that she’s outgrown the habit of clinging onto him on the long walks during missions, he gets to see her more from behind. He would never admit it to anyone, but he likes the particular hue of pink of her hair. It’s a nice contrast to her red mission gear, too; behind her cross-body backpack he could see her family crest, a circle—

 _Wait_.

His heart jumps. It’s not a circle, but a fan. The same one _he_ has on his back and all his clothes. He tries to prevent it, but his cheeks grow warm.

He doesn’t notice he’s stopped in his tracks until the other two turn, suddenly alert.

“What’s wrong, Sasuke-kun?” Sakura asks, her voice gaining a hard edge, her eyes scanning the trees after one look at him.

“Nothing,” he replies, thankful that he regained his cool quickly. _What was that?_

“Don’t startle us like that, _teme,”_ Naruto huffs.

They continue walking, Sasuke blinking again and again as he stares at Sakura’s back. The circular crest on her back is there again, where it should be. _What_ it should be.

The hot afternoon passes by in a blur, and the coolness of dusk sets in. Kakashi-sensei has picked a safe place for them to camp. “Sakura, you’re on firewood duty; you two, fish from that nearby river. And no bickering. Who knows who might hear you.”

They disperse, and he and Naruto get through their task with only minimal mutual temptation to strangle each other.

“Where’s Sakura-chan?” Naruto wonders as soon as they're back to camp. Before anyone else can raise a point, Sasuke volunteers. “I’ll go get her.”

In the darkness between the trees, he sees the unmistakable pink hue, and he sighs, relieved. Sakura is hunkered over a bunch of wood and looking disappointed. “Sasuke-kun! Are you and Naruto already done? There are very few dry twigs here, so I opted for some thick wood,” she examines the pile with surgeon-like concentration. “but they’re freshly separated from their tree, so these still have moisture, so I don’t think it will—”

“It’s okay,” he says, hauling the entire batch she’s gathered, but, to his annoyance, he drops some of them.

“You don’t have to—oh,” she snorts, smiling, picking up the remaining wood. “You didn’t have to, Sasuke-kun.”

“Naruto thought you got lost,” he fibs. By Naruto, he meant himself. He internally cringes. Sometimes it bothers him how much Sakura has grown on him. Yet at the same time, it somewhat feels comforting. It's almost like the feeling of having someone to lean on.

“That Naruto,” Sakura huffs, "I get that he's concerned, but don't underestimate me maybe?" Annoyed, she stomps back to camp, overtaking him, and there it is again, as soon as the light of the moon hits her back: _the Uchiha crest._

 _Dammit_ , he chides himself, blinking hard, trying to make the vision go away. He makes sure he's neutralized the rapid beating in his chest before he makes it back to camp. He looks at her back again, and the fan crest isn't there this time.

—

Later, Kakashi volunteers to take first watch. Naruto is fast asleep in his usual spread-eagle fashion, and to his right is Sakura, her back on him, quietly snoozing.

He stares at her back, almost waiting for the circular symbol to change. 

"Sasuke," says their sensei, startling him. "Go to sleep."

He obliges. Sleep takes him away soon enough.

He dreams of walking across a tundra, a meadow, a desert. He’s traveling. On a journey? Searching for something, maybe? There’s someone walking with him, but it isn't a threat, that much he knows. He can't make out what the diaphanous figure looks like exactly, but it's wearing a light-colored cloak and a pretty smile. 

Soon, he and his companion stop at a cliff to look at the sunset in the horizon. " _Why don't we just stop at a nearby forest?"_ his companion says, and he turns, and it's _her—_ her short pink hair neatly trimmed at the ends. There's a purple rhombus on her forehead. He has trouble placing the name, even until they set up camp and they've taken off their cloaks, and he sees a symbol on the back of her clothes. A fan. 

In the light of the campfire he sees a pair of green eyes on the face of his companion. She looks at him, smiles, and it doesn't escape him how utterly warm it feels, as if he's traded everything he's been carrying for _this_ —this moment, this togetherness, that even in the midst of wilderness he knows he's still home.

 _So this is what being safe feels like_ , he thinks— _knows_ , so long as he's with this person as his companion. He looks at his hand, and it's bigger than he remembers. Even his body feels sturdier, bulkier than it used to be. Then he realizes this _is_ him—him as a grownup. The bewilderment sets in. _What am I doing? What happened to avenging my clan?_ The bewilderment is followed by frustration, then anger—

 _"Everything alright, dear?"_ the woman says. There's a look of worry on her face. He stares at her, and remembers that _it's okay now._

"Yeah." He says aloud, loud enough to wake himself up.

His eyes flutter open, and the first thing he sees is Sakura’s face—not very close, but just close enough to make him pull away slightly and feel conscious in spite of himself. 

"You're sleep-talking," Kakashi-sensei says.

He ignores the comment, well aware that _yeah_ , he just did. Only wisps of what he dreamt about remain with him now, but looking at her starts a vague sense of familiarity.

Then it occurs to him: Sakura. The woman _looked like_ Sakura. Of course, it couldn’t have been her. She doesn’t have that rhomboid seal on her forehead.

But he knows only one person who has that particular hue of pink as their hair.

He closes his eyes again, hoping for a dreamless sleep this time.

In the haze between being conscious and asleep, a desire to make that happen passes him. It was just a dream, of course, but perhaps, if he doesn't die in his quest for revenge, it could be something else. A future, maybe?


	6. Entry 6: The One with Sarada's Jacket

She immediately notices how quiet he is as soon as she enters the room.

He’s at the window, overlooking the street, as if expecting Sarada to come home even though he knows their team is in the middle of a mission right now. The gray sunlight of the winter paints over the outside. There’s a thin sheen of frost on the pavement. He wonders if his daughter is keeping herself warm right now. 

“Sasuke-kun,” Sakura sits on the bed, a serene look on her face: that serene look she puts on when she knows he needs reassuring, but beneath it the worry that would reflect the one he feels. “It’s your day off. At least take your mind off heavy things.”

“Was just thinking,” he replies. She tilts her head, but not in confusion, one that waits, because that’s what she does: knowing. Knowing that he tends to spiral down his vortex of thoughts. Knowing that sometimes he forgets that he isn’t alone anymore. Knowing that there are things he’s set aside that will come back up to confront him one day. Knowing that there are things from his past that can still affect his present.  _ Their  _ present.

She takes a chair, places it in front of him, joining him at the window. She rests her chin on her folded arms on the windowsill, appreciating the season outside. “I made sure Sarada packed a jacket with her; don’t worry.”

“Hmm.”

“Besides, if they’re ever cold, she can easily do the Fire Release you taught her.”

“You’re right.”

She side-eyes him, a small smile on her face.  _ Bingo. _

_ Honestly. How does she do that? _

She waits. Sometimes they play this game: one that celebrates the fact that while Sakura is no mind-reader, he gives in, folding like a damn lawn chair, and volunteers what he’s thinking about. This annoyed him at first, but soon enough he just found it amusing. How comforting it is, he’s figured: to be able to confide to someone. As to this little game, Sakura never gloats about it, though. Why would she—when she knows husband and wife are supposed to share burdens?

“Sometimes, I still have dreams of that night,” he begins. “And the things I did because of that. For revenge.” He looks at her, and before he could continue, she says, “You’ve said sorry a hundred times already. And I’ll tell you a hundred times too: I’ve forgiven you.”

A beat passes. The room is suddenly cold. “I’m just not sure about Sarada.”

“That’s the thing, isn’t it?” she smiles, or tries to, her face crumpling in bitter recognition of their shared anxiety. “You have your records classified as restricted in the Konoha Library. Kakashi-sensei specifically ordered it back when he was Hokage. Naruto agreed to keep it that way. But you’re still worried she’ll find out.”

“She will.” No library record can capture the crimes he did. He meets her eyes, and she recognizes how lost Sasuke looks. It’s almost pleading for help. “One day.”

Sakura rises from her seat. “Come here.” She opens her arms and hugs his head. She’s shaking slightly; he knows it’s not from the cold. He realizes then: for the many years he was away, how many times had she worried about this? How did she get through without anyone reassuring her? How many times had she looked at their daughter with pride, but at the back of her mind, she shook at the constant taunting by their past? The complexity of the politics that led to the massacre, that the order came from  _ Konoha  _ itself—the very place they call home. Their home that ordered her uncle to commit that horror, the Fall of the Uchiha that eventually led her father to pursue a path of darkness, staining his hands red, driven to near insanity by the thirst for revenge and destruction.

“I want it to come from me,” he says, muffled by the sleeve of her shirt. With his one hand, he clasps onto her arm, like a buoy latching to an anchor. “Not from someone else. Not from some enemy that knows about me that would taunt her, and it would shatter everything she knows about us and the village.”

She kisses the top of his head, not knowing how to respond. The kiss almost means  _ What do you want me to say, Sasuke-kun?  _

When she draws away, she scooches her chair closer, puts one hand on his cheek and the other on his arm. “Sasuke-kun, I don’t know what will happen, either. Nobody does. Our fears might come true.” Sakura would reassure him about a lot of things, but she wouldn’t mince her words when it came to Sarada. Not when it came to their daughter. “Or they might not. But I believe in our daughter. Don’t you?”

He nods.

“Listen,” Sakura tucks the hair obscuring the Rinnegan behind his ear. “This eye alone tells a story. One day, you will tell her about this. And you will tell her about the Uchiha clan, too. What Itachi-san did. The politics of that time. Tell her the history, both the good parts and bad. It’s a part of her identity that we can’t deny.”

Sakura has a way of putting into words the knotted amalgam of anxieties he tries to push down within him every day.

“But no matter how it turns out, just remember that she knows you love her. There’s no force in this world that can tear our love away from her,” her green eyes may not hold all the answers, but in them he knows he has someone to lean on, no matter the outcome. “The Curse of Hatred ended with you, didn’t it?”

“Yeah.” His eyes shine with what may be tears. He exhales a breath he didn’t know he’s been holding. Somehow, he feels better now. He grasps her hand. “In a way, I’m not worried.”

Surprised, she asks, “Really?”

“Because she’s part you.”

“I don’t think that matters, Sasuke-kun,” with a blush.

“It does,” he grasps her hand tighter, hoping he could nonverbally transmit what he thinks of her. She’s kind and resilient and sympathetic and warm, full of such capacity for goodness and patience. Traits that he’s observed she has passed on to their daughter, despite Sarada’s stoic demeanor which she got from him. Sarada  _ may  _ be an Uchiha, the clan with a proclivity to descend into darkness, but she is  _ also _ Sakura: flawed but virtuous, understanding. “She is the best of us,” he smiles.

“She is. She really is.” She agrees, embracing him once more. Sasuke embraces back, harder this time. 

And so they sit there, husband and wife, in the dimly-lit room in the cold winter midday, rife with anxiety about their daughter’s future, but also hoping that their love for her will be enough.


End file.
